“When in trouble or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout” - where did this quote come from?
I googled it - and got a lot of hits using it, but none citing who wrote it.
Sounds like the Republican party manifesto!
- scurries for thread door *
From quick Googling, I’m thinking the most plausible source is a Burma Shave advertisement.
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Gfactor
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I first heard it in a Heinlein book. Number of the Beast, maybe.
When in danger or in doubt
Run in circles scream and shout
Calvin and Hobbes? That was my first gut reaction, but I have to be honest and say I haven’t a clue.
Google Book search can quite often help, although you really have to be careful to look deeper to see if the supposed date is true. In this case, it is. 1929
Military. I can’t elaborate much, as the book has a limited preview. I’ll search my newspaper databases to see if anything turns up.
You can also find it in Wouk’s “The Caine Mutiny”. It seems to come from WWII. The earliest cite I can find is from 1942:
With the full saying showing up in print in 1948:
But, of course, Sam was able to find something earlier. Thanks, Sam.
Yep i think it is from the Master too.
According to wikiquote it was in “The Cat Who Walks Through Walls”
ETA: oops, i see he was not :(, there goes my first answer in GQ
But the citation says:
1985? It’s a lot older than that.
I first read it in a Mad Magazine parody of Star Trek (“Star Blecch”) back in the mid sixties.
Thanks, all - it’s interesting to know it’s a pretty old expression even if we can’t find a definitive cite for the source.
Another anecdotal poster checking in;
I heard it from my mother in the early/mid 60s as “Confucius say ‘When in confusion or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout!’”. No idea where she originally heard it, but it must have been in common usage for some time before that.
My dad used to say-
“When in panic, fear or doubt,
scream and shout and run about.”
I will ask him tomorrow where he thinks it came from, or when he first heard it.
Sorry I’m coming to this thread late.
This saying (or a variant of it) is also known as the Mongolian General Prudential Rule. (Google for some examples).
I’m not really sure of the origin, but it looks like circa WWII.
I had always heard it
When uncertain,
when in doubt,
run in circles,
scream and shout.
I’m thinking about using as my epitaph.
Nope. Origin is definitely before WWII. I found it from 1929. It almost certainly comes from a football team from the Naval War College sometime before WWII.
I remember it from one of the Herman Wouk novels re WWll; he used it as
“When in wonder or in doubt,
Run in circles, scream and shout,
Hoist the flag and fire a gun,
Send the signal round, ‘Well Done’”
I don’t remember which novel it was but the two characters involved in conversation were US Naval officers.
For another data point for it being a common US Naval expression during WWII - Daniel Gallery used it in his WWII memoirs, in such a way as to make it clear that the expression was in common currency, and could be expected to be known by all ranks during the war.
The Heinlein novel where this advice is found is “Time Enough for Love” (1973). Lazarus Long’s twin sisters Lapis Lazuli Long and Lorelei Lee Long mention it while their brother is instructing them prior to traveling back in time to the 20th century.
As Heinlein was a former US Navy officer it’s quite likely that he coined this from an existing military usage.
The Caine Mutiny used the first two lines.